Catniss Story
by Artie.freaking.Abrams
Summary: After the war of the districts, Catniss and Pita think that a happily ever after will be simple...  WHat they don't know is that a visit from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry will seriously change their plans!
1. Chapter 1

If there was ever an eclipse that blocked out the sun, Catniss thought, it should happen now.

The ground was parched, dark, its surface cracking in the face of the hapless and sweltering weather. Her knees were covered in mud, which was, while wonderfully cool, doing nothing to stop the sunburn she felt on her legs. Augusts in district forty seven were always like this; lacking in humidity, water, and pretty much everything else except for heat.

Of course, it had not always been this way. In fact, just three years ago, Catniss had been a skinny, rebellious girl living in _district twelve_. Those days were long gone now; after winning the war with the authorities who ruled them from districts one and two, many of the rebels, and Catniss and Pita with them, had decided to make room for a fresh start. And so all the districts one through thirteen had been demolished, turning into mines for oil, farms for crops, and anything else that could supply much – needed resources for the new population. To banish all memories of the hard, old days, the new districts had been named fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. These were larger, more evenly distributed, and much more democratic than the old districts.

However, whatever the new authorities – Catniss included – tried to do to make old, scarring memories fade, they could not wash them out completely. And just like the land was presently devoid of water, Catniss herself, the very hub of ideas for the new country, was devoid of any other ways to stop the remaining pain. It was small pain, but could be conjured back in an instant; she felt it whenever she saw a prim rose, or any flower at all, or when she went to the rock mines. There were just too many things that reminded her of the people she had lost to be completely blocked out of her life.

But, anyhow.

Shaking off her train of thought and returning to the present, Catniss got up and slathered some more mud onto her legs; it was her own version of sunscreen, if much less effective. After all, why should she stop using the environment as her protection, if that was what she'd always done? It had worked for her up until now, at least.

"Catniss? Catniss, are you over there?"

Catniss laughed. "Over where? Pita, I can't see you, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"By the bushes. Well, they're not really bushes anymore… But you know what I am talking about." Pita's voice was breathless, and he emerged several minutes later, his face red from the exertion of climbing through the thickets of brambles that lined the now – dry lake bed. "Oh! There you are."

Catniss laughed again, and let Pita hold her for a moment. She had always felt safe in his warm, broad arms.

"Thank goodness for water bottles," she said as she took two out of her bag. "Even when its super – dry here, there's always water near the mines."

"Yeah The diggers always go there for breaks; when I made the inspection rounds, I met a guy who told me about all the parties they had there. Near the purifying factories, I mean," Pita replied, "its crazy stuff. Pretty dangerous, too, I'd imagine – there are so many people."

"Yeah, I heard some guy got trampled once when he was trying to get a drink at one of the New Year's bashes."

"Oh no! Seriously?"

The two continued in a relaxed, happy banter; their lives where totally, almost boringly, devoid of any danger. It was almost relaxing to talk about someone else's misfortunes, knowing it could never happen to _them_.

Presently, Catniss slipped her hand into Pita's. It was a tentative move; she was still new at this. Although she still missed Connor, Pita had helped Catniss get through it and cut her losses; she had slowly realized, and was still realizing, the depth of their comradeship; that they were more than just friends.

However, its always a long road to love, right?

What will happen next? Is there more to Catniss and Pita's post – war relationship than happiness? Are there even more surprises on the way for them, and how might it effect them as a couple?

PS don't worry, I'll make sure Catniss gets a few makeovers from… Someone.

Read the next chapter and find out; I'll post it soon ; )


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Once again, sweat dripped down Catniss' back in a most unpleasant fashion – did she really have to wear a sweater to the dinner party? It was making her skin shine with an unpleasant film of grease, which was probably much more improper than if she'd just stuck to her old shorts and cami top. Anyhow as if the heat was not bad enough, the air conditioner seemed to be either out of service or nonexistent. Anyways, the current she'd been counting on – that was the entire reason she had sat in the corner! - was leaving her high and dry; er, high and wet.

And speaking of high, had she had one or two too many bloody maries? The lights above her, which she swore were stationary when she had arrived, were spinning and slightly less uniform in shape and size than before. The pools of sun from the window were wavering more than they were supposed to.

And then, all of a sudden, Pita's arms were around her.

"Are you all right, Catniss?" His voice was soft in her ear, and his chin was surprisingly rough – stubbly – against the side of her cheek. Catniss resisted for a moment, then collapsed into his arms.

"I'm… I – I'm… Fine!" Catniss had been searching for the word in thin air, and when she found it, and grabbed it, a sense of false ease released her from all the tension in her shoulders.

Which of course, mercilessly, returned a moment later.

"Well if you're not," Pita said, obviously doubting her slightly woozy response, "we can always go home." Then he paused. Checked his watch, combed his fingers through his light hair, which was slightly mussed even after several tons of gel had been forced into it. Then he whispered quietly, almost as if he thought he was letting her down, "It's just… you're sort of the guest of honor at this party, you know."

"Its… A… Benefit." The words flowed out of Catniss' mouth in what seemed to be a drunken tone, and she wondered as frantically as she could in her state, how this had happened. It was just so much worse than she'd thought, and she had realized that as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Yeah, well, that isn't the point and you know it." Pita looked over his shoulder and Catniss squinted at the tall, obviously animate thing behind him. A few moments later, she realized it was a person, and Pita was trying to hold up against his flow of questions.

"…Look, look… Later… Busy now, she's… Can't you see?" Pita's voice itself was disintegrating now, pulsing in and out of the beat of the music along with the beat. It was sickening, for some reason, to Catniss. Well, not necessarily Pita's voice… She just felt _sick_.

Once again Pita seemed to notice the change in Catniss faster than anyone else, and she was comforted by knowing that this was probably a good thing.

"Catniss? Catniss, you're obviously not ok." Pita, who was for some reason torn, looked once at her greenish face, then at the vibrant, bright lights, the people, and the grandiose room itself. His gaze rested on the award – the award of Valor in Times of Need, her award, his award – which was hanging like a crown jewel from the mantelpiece.

"G… G… Go. I can get home… m… myself, y'know." Catniss suddenly slackened her body; just the thought of saying so many words at once tired her to the point of collapse, never mind actually _speaking_ them.

Oh crap. Oh, no – she had actually spoken them, right?

Obviously, Pita thought not. He was looking into the depths of her eyes, which were not actually depth full right now, seeing as they were just… about… to close…

Pita had no time to loose, he couldn't just stand here; he had to make a decision. Should he turn Catniss' limp body over to the event planner who was standing by the door, and run, hoping that said event planner had some smelling salts? Or should he be true to himself, virtuous, and shove her into the passenger seat of the car to home, hoping there were no cops on the road?

To him, and probably anyone, the choice was obvious.

Grunting, but in a sort of pleasurable way, Pita slunk around the back corner of the district mayor's green room, with Catniss' left arm slung across his back. He tried to look natural; he waved goodbye to the event planner, gave a forced smile to the host, Mayor Greenburg himself, who had probably wanted a great deal more than that. Oh, well.

Once outside, Pita rested against an oak tree, and got up moments later to continue his miniature journey. He was at the moment muddling in his own thoughts, stewing in his own juices. He was confused, of course; Catniss had as strong a stomach as anyone. Couldn't she handle a bit of dry wine? Or if not that, what had made her decline so surprisingly, and suddenly, into unconsciousness? As he shoved her into the car, Pita looked into Catniss' face, searching for some sort of clue. He found none. And he found nothing on the road either; no spark of light, no revelation. The world had suddenly become a rather fearful place, at least for a few moments.

And even when the fear was gone, and Pita was alone, and Catniss was roused – if slightly vacant - and in the bedroom, he could not help but think that whatever had happened to Catniss was not an accident.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Catniss woke up to a filthy room and a miserable hangover.

The room was blanketed in a swath of grime, and the windows seemed to let little light through, for their curtains were thick and brown enough to be anything but effective. Her head was spinning. She reached onto the nightstand – or at least, she thought it was the nightstand – and fumbled around for a while, searching for her reading light. There wasn't nearly enough light in the room, she thought, due to the curtains, and if she was to make her way down the stairs, she would have to be able to see.

Soon it dawned on Catniss that she would not be able to see at all, however much light she got. The room was spinning so badly; the walls were twisted into one another, and the shadows overflowed their borders to create one large, uneven shape. Water was pooled in the corners of the room; no, not water, it was less translucent. Greenish, almost. It took Catniss a moment to realize that the stuff was her own barf, and when she did, she collapsed back onto the bed, surrendering the little energy she had to the waves of nausea that came rolling over her in long, slow tides; they drew out the pain immensely, but she figured she'd get used to them eventually. Her hands went limp at the sides of the narrow bed, her eyes squinted almost to the point of closing completely. As soon as she regained some sensory recognition, which was several minutes later, she realized that her mouth and eyes were dry as brick, and her face was briny as if covered with dirt, salt, or tears. Remembering the last night's events Catniss winced in shame; she should have known better than to wander off on her own, in the corner, for the selfish reason of finding some cool air. She should have watched what she drank, and she should never have strayed away from Pita, as there were still pro – district government people out there, who may have attended the party (most of them were fancy officials now, of course). The thought of that should have alerted Catniss earlier, she realized, even through her dreadful headache, and then maybe she would have watched out for what she drank. Now she would have to just wait for whatever side effects the drug that had been given to her contained.

An hour passed, then two. Halfway through the third, Pita emerged from behind the door; he came without knocking, of course. They often were by each other's bedsides; it was good to have company in that large, cavernous house. He saw her pallid face and limp arms, and hurried to her.

"Are you all right"

Seeing Catniss' bemused expression, he changed his phrasing. "Well, not that. Of course you're not all right. What I mean to ask is, how bad has it really gotten?"

It occurred to her that he probably thought the same as she did, which was probably for the better, and also probably true. Nowadays the remaining "anti – revolutionists" (their nickname) were having to resort to extreme and lowly methods, due to increased weapon restraint across the country. Catniss had always known that she and Pita were popular targets, and that was why she was always taking precautions, and always voicing warnings. But yesterday _she_ had been the un - cautious one, and now they would both have to pay the price.

"I'm ok… Yeah, just a little woozy is all," Catniss heaved herself upright and grunted. She did not want to appear in such a vulnerable position, not yet; the two of them were close, but not as close as a longtime couple, say, and certainly not as romantic. However, she could use Pita's urge to protect her for her own good…"

"Pita?"

"Yes, Catniss." He sounded wary, but Catniss could sense his eagerness to help.

"I, uh, need to go to the grocery store, and in my state, I guess you can probably tell that I can't drive." She laughed a little. "Maybe you could….?"

"Yes sure, of course."

"And on the way back, do you think we could stop at that coffee shop, _Benton's Place_? I've heard they have excellent pastries, and I could really use some caffeine right now, too."

"Alright. If you can be down in a few minutes, that is."

Catniss grinned, trying to maintain a spark of life in her otherwise sallow complexion. "I can do that," she said.

As soon as Pita was out the door, she pulled on her undergarments, wondering if her plan would work. Was it possible to ask for a break at the bathroom, and to fake a friendly acquaintance, with a person she sort – of knew? Would her plot miserably fail, or would it come through, and from there she would be able to fake a lunch date (with said acquaintance) and steal some time to do some research, and some snooping?

And most of all, would it help her find the person who drugged her at the party?

Catniss didn't know it yet, but she hadn't even hit the tip of the ice berg; and what was coming her way was something she had never before dreamed to be possible.

What happens next – read the next chapter and find out (duh)!


End file.
